Block out system for duplicating



Patented Jan. 9, 1951 OFFICE 2,537,359 BLOCK OUT SYSTEM FOR DUPLICATINGRembert A. Marquardt and Stuart 0. Morrey,

Park Ridge, 111.

No Drawing Application June 15, 1948, Serial No. 33,238

2 Claims. (0!. 282-28) The present invention relates'to the duplicatingart. It is particularly directed to the provision of a copy sheet onwhich copies are to be made by applying hectographic ink thereto from amaster sheet, with means to cancel a portion of the copy impressedthereon so that this cancelled. portion cannot be recognized. In theduplicating art, it has long been recognized that for certain purposes,it is an advantage to be able to block out certain information carriedon the master sheet so that one or more copies will be free of theblocked out information. It is common practice in hectograph duplicationto employ block out sheets which are superimposed on the master sheetwhen it is desired to prevent certain information on the master frombeing communicated to the copies. In the gelatin pad type of hectographduplicator, the block out sheet may be applied over a portion of thegelatin pad while the abbreviated copy is being made. With the liquidprocess type of duplicating where the.

master copy is formed in reverse script on a sheet of paper and istransferred to the copy sheet by applying a solvent for the hectographicink to the copy sheet, the block out sheet is placed over that portionof the reverse master that is to be excluded from the copy. Thesemethods of excluding certain matter from certaincopy sheets do not lendthemselves to efficient operation where a large number of copies have tobe made, since they require the operator ofrthe machine to apply andremove the block out sheets at the proper time. Also there is always thepossibility that a block out will not be applied when it should be andthe copy sheet intended to receive only part of the information from the-master will receive all of it.

' It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a copy sheet forliquid process type of hectograph duplication that will completely maskthe information transferred to certain portions thereof by taking andspreading the hectographic ink deposited on the copy sheet in such afashion that the outlines of the deposited area can no longer berecognized. To this end the invention contemplates the provision of acopy sheet set for use in liquid process duplicating machines which setwill contain one or'more sheets, certain areas of which are so treatedas to prevent a legible or decipherable impression from the master with0 which the sheets in the set are used.' The invention embodies theimpregnation of a portion of the copysheet with a substance, porous tothe usuals'olvents and including a waterand alcohol soluble dye of likenature to that used in an ink of the hectograph type, which substancecan be applied to the copy sheet durin the printing operation in whichthe heading and other permanent information is applied to the copysheets.

It is a further purpose of the invention to provide a novel process ofpreparing a copy sheet with block out areas capable of absorbinghectographic ink in a duplicating process in such fashion as to make thespecific areas contacted by the ink areas on the master unrecognizableon the copy sheet.

It is a further purpose of the invention to provide a novel copy sheettreating substance which may be applied to the copy sheet, by ordinaryprinting processes and which, when so applied, impregnates certain areasof the copy sheet with a coloring matter soluble in the usual solventsfor the hectographic ink used on the master sheets, without destroyingthe absorbent qualities of the impregnated areas of the copy sheet forthe hectographic ink from the master so that the ink, when absorbed fromthe master, is lost by intermingling with the impregnated coloringmatter in the copy sheet.

Our invention is not applicable to the taking of copies from a moistenedgelatin pad which has received the master copy in reverse from anoriginal in hectograph ink for the reason that the moist gelatin padwill pick up, the coloring matter from the blocked out area of the copysheet and transfer it to another sheet. i

The form lines on the copy sheet are printed with any suitable printingink. The areas which are to mask the hectographic ink legend impressedthereon in the usual liquid process duplication, are printed during theprinting operation with a substance containing a water-alcohol solubledye of a similar color or a dominant to that of the water soluble dyeused in the hectographic ink that is employed in the duplicatingprocess. There are a great number of these dyes used. For example, inthe Hoskins Patent No. 2,088,417, for a process of improvinglightfastness and moisture resistance of hectograph copies, such dyes asmethyl violet, crystal violet, fushsines, magentas, anthroquinones.Chrysoidine, aniline dyes such as aniline blue, Victoria blue andorange, Nile blue, and azo dyes such as Congo red and Bismarck brown,are listed as examples of water and alcohol soluble dyes that may beused in making copiesby the hectograph process.

The substance for impregnating the areas that are to be blocked out mustbe carefully pre nique is required in the printing.

pared in order to work in a printing press. As illustrative of themethod of preparing the substance and the ingredients used therein, thefollowing example is set forth.

First boil together for about one hour a mixture of 1 part by weightBritish gum and 3 parts by weight glycerin until the mixture reaches aconsistency slightly heavier than pouring. Prepare another mixture of 50per cent by weight diethylene glycol and 50 per cent by weight whitedextrine by boiling them together for about twenty minute until themixture reaches a solution slightly heavier than pouring.

Take 10 parts by weight of the first mixture, 14 parts by weight of thesecond mixture, 23 parts by weight diethylene glycol, 45 parts calciumcarbonate (White Carb Dry White), and 10 parts by weight of a water andalcohol soluble dye such as methyl violet diluted to the standard knownin the trade as 2 B concentrate 125%. Mix these ingredients thoroughlyby running them through an ink mill several times to produce a concentrated ink solution.

The concentrated ink solution is prepared for press use as follows:First prepare by boiling to a consistency slightly heavier than pouring,1 part gum arabic and 9 parts glycerin, bo.h by weight. Mix 3 parts ofthis substance with 5 parts diethylene glycol, 16 parts of theconcentrated ink and about 1 part of commercial Le Pages strength glue,all parts by weight.

The resulting block out ink may be used on such printing presses asMiller Major flatbed presses and Miehle vertical presses. The pressesmust be equipped with rubber rollers and the type may be either rubberor metal. No special tech- The ink may be applied solid on the block outareas, or, a variegated design having small areas devoid of ink may beused. In the printing it is necessary, of course, to use suitable copysheets such as are commonly used for copy sheets in hectographduplication. The sheets treated as described in the I-Ioskins patent,heretofore referred to, and others may be used. We find that the areasto which the block out ink is applied are impregnated with the inksubstance to a depth generally exceeding twenty per cent of thethickness of the ordinary copy sheet paper. The ability of theimpregnated area to absorb solvents for hectographic ink is, however, asgreat as that of the rest of the copy sheet.

When the copies are made in accordance with the common practice from amaster sheet, those copies containing the inked block out areas willreceive the same impression as other copy sheets not having the inkedareas. However, on the copy sheets having the inked block out areas,that part of the information contained on the master sheet which isimpressed on the inked block out areas loses its identity immediately oncontact with the inked areas. The applicaion of the ink described aboveprovides a body of color which is absorbent with respect to the solventused in the duplicating process, so that the dye transferred from themaster sheet with the solvent spreads into and becomes anindistinguishable part of the color body. It cannot be identified, evenunder a high power microscope, since the solvent appears to effectsufiicient softening of the impregnated color to cause the transferreddye to become intermingled therewith. Where the variegated design withsmall non-colored areas is used on the block out portions, it ispossible to detect the dye deposit on the white portions of the paper,but these white portions are of such small dimensions that they give noindication by reason of the deposits thereon or the outline of thefigure character or design transferred.

The masking of the coloring matter transferred from the master copy isnot dependent upon the dye in the block out substance being of the samecolor as that in the hectographic ink transferred from the master copy.Preferably we employ the darker colors such as methyl violet, crystalviolet, aniline blue and Nile blue in the block out substance because ofthe more solid appearance. However, examples that we have run show thata single color in the block out effectively blocks out several o.-hers.A block out area wherein the water-alcohol soluble dye used was methylviolet masked out red, green, blue and purple transfers frommastershaving the reverse script legend formed by using hectographcarbons made by Ditto Incorporated. Likewise where a black water-alcoholsoluble dye is used in the block out substance applied to the copysheet, the legends in greens, blue, violets and browns are no longerreadable when transferred to the block out area.

In the actual making of copies utilizing our invention, it is customaryto print on business forms, such as invoices, with ordinary oil baseprinting ink the proper general heading and line arrangement. Severalcopies of each invoice or order may be nee ed. Not all of these copiesrequire the same information. For example, one copy will require all ofthe information itemized such as size, base price, discount todistributor, discount to jobber, salesman commission and total price foreach item. Other copies such as those used for shop orders, check listsand the like, should not have the discount and base price columns filledin. The printer who has the order for the forms, will print each copy,using block out substance on the copies that are not required to havecertain information. Then the copies for the several uses are assembledtogether in a set which includes one or more of the copy sheets carryingthe block out substance. The various sheets are marked to indicate whogets them, as master copy, customers copy, etc.

When the master copy is made, usually on a typewriter, a hectographcarbon on the back of it provides a duplicating master so that liquidprocess duplication is used to make the other copies of a set. There isno danger of an error being made by the operator to place undesirediniorination on one or the block out copies.

In applying the impregnating block out substance, we cause it topenetrate the paper stock to a depth of about twenty per cent of thethickness of the paper or more. The deptn of penetration depends uponthe porosity of the copy sheet used. When the ink dissolved from themaster contacts the block out area, the transferied ink blends with thecoloring matter in the impregnating substance, since both are soluble inthe solvent used to moisten the copy sheets, and they are pressed deeplyinto the copy paper. The penetration is shown by microscopicexamination, to be increased over the entire block out area by themoistening of the cop sheet and passing it between the master sheet andthe pressure roller of a duplicating machine.

The block out substance must be sufficiently fluid to penetrate the copypaper to a substantial distance when it is applied. It is also porouswhen dried, so the solvent enters it readily.

Otherwise the surface accumulation of this sub stance will betransferred to the master sheet and reprint onto the succeeding copysheets. Also, the substance has apparently a greater affinity for thecopying ink than the copy paper has. It quickly removes most of the copyink from the master if it is merely surface coated onto the copy paper.

It is believed that the nature and advantages of our invention will beapparent from the foregoing description.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. A method of blocking out parts of a copy sheet in the taking ofcopies from a reverse master copy by hectograph duplication whichcomprises impregnating certain of the areas of a copy sheet to bemoistened and contacted with the master copy with an ink substance, thecolor base of which is a water and alcohol soluble dye, the depth andquantity of the ink substance impregnation being substantially greaterthan that of the hectographic ink transferred by the act of contactingthe moistened copy sheet with the reverse legend on the master sheet,applying solvent to the copy sheet and pressing it against the reversemaster, thereby transferring legible copy to clear parts of the copysheet and masking the copy transferred to the impregnated areas of thecopy sheet b diluting and blending the ink dissolved from the mastersheet with the moistened impregnating substance.

2. In the art of duplication by pressing a copy sheet against amastersheethaving the copy thereon formed of a water and alcohol solublehectographic ink, and moistening the contacting surface of one of saidsheets with a solvent for the ink, the method of rendering part of thecopy transferred undecipherable, which comprises impregnating the areaof the copy sheet receiving said part of the copy with an ink substancepervious to Water and alcohol, the coloring matter of which comprises awater and alcohol soluble dye moistening the contacting surface of oneof the sheets with a solvent for the hectographic ink, pressing the copysheet against the part of the master sheet having the copy thereonformed of hectographic ink, and thereby blending the transferred ink ofthe copy with the dye in the ink substance.

REMBERT A. MARQUARDT. STUART C. MORREY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,088,417 Hoskins July 27, 19372,288,389 Bour June 30, 1942 2,310,394 Case Feb. 9, 1943 2,337,737Champion Dec. 28, 1943

